American politics has a long history of violence and dysfunction and today resembles the theatre of the absurd. You know... Samuel Becket’s masterpiece 'Waiting for Godot' where two tramp-like characters stand under a tree on a dirt road, speaking gibberish to each other; never agreeing on anything and nothing gets done. That's where American politics have gone, with the candidacy of Donald Trump and its endless drama propped up by liberal elites. Why? They are exploiting Trump’s absurdity for political gain..The Republican Party was once known as the party of Lincoln. It advocated for lower taxes, limited government and free enterprise. Now, it has been hijacked by MAGA supporters who want to take America back to its golden age of the 1950s when, after winning the Second World War, it was dominant and its citizens really were living the American dream..Today that dream has collapsed. America is a divided society with those who have achieved great success in business, CEOs, athletes and entertainers along with upper-end professions, separated from a majority of its working citizens and blue-collar workers as they struggle for upward mobility. Trump’s message of us versus them, if you disagree you are not a patriot, stop the onslaught of illegals crossing the border, resonates with millions who feel disenfranchised and that only he can rescue them from the coming apocalypse. It is a successful tactic used to divide people and to keep his base motivated. In the process he has created a party dominated by extremists who have no core conservative principles and the party's sense of humanity has been obliterated..Consider this: It's from President Ronald Reagan in his farewell address in January 1989, speaking about what America means to the world:."I’ve been reflecting on what the past eight years have meant and mean. And the image that comes to mind like a refrain is a nautical one — a small story about a big ship, a refugee, and a sailor. It was back in the early ‘80s, at the height of the boat people. And the sailor was hard at work on the carrier Midway, which was patrolling the South China Sea. The sailor, like most American servicemen, was young, smart, and fiercely observant. The crew spied on the horizon a leaky little boat. And crammed inside were refugees from Indochina hoping to get to America. The Midway sent a small launch to bring them to the ship and safety. As the refugees made their way through the choppy seas, one spied the sailor on deck and stood up, and called out to him. He yelled, ‘Hello, American sailor. Hello, freedom man.”.CNN is a leftist network that has been suffering from its worst ratings in years and decided to host a town hall meeting with Trump. One might remember that during the Trump presidency CNN, MSNBC and FOX combined prime-time audience from 2015 to 2020 went from 3.1 million to 7.2 million. They reaped profits that the industry had not experienced in years. The New York Times, the heart and soul of American middle-class liberalism, dedicated a lot of resources to covering the chaos of the Trump presidency and enjoyed a boom to its bottom line with its circulation increasing from 2 million to 7 million. Trump is a godsend to the liberal media making it survive and thrive as they cannot get enough of his theatrics and he helps create a backlash against conservative values..For seventy minutes Trump was irreverent and irascible taking shots at everyone and providing simplistic monosyllabic answers to any question: On the war in Ukraine, he said, “I'll settle the war in one day." On the economy, "Drill baby, drill," he declared. Regarding the January 6 rioters, he will pardon most of them. On that infamous Access Hollywood tape of him grabbing a woman’s private parts, he provided an evolutionary explanation: “I can’t take it back because it happens to be true. I said it’s been true for one million years, perhaps a little longer than that." The evening was a resounding success for CNN as it had a huge rating spike of 3.3 million viewers or roughly 5 times what the time slot normally receives, and introduced a new network star in the intellectually cool Kaitlan Collins who did not flinch when Trump called her a “nasty person.” Afterward, the liberal rage kicked into high gear excoriating CNN for inviting Trump but the liberal establishment won the day by positioning him as the de facto Republican candidate.. Kaitlan CollinsCNN's Kaitlan Collins .The Democrats are committed to doing whatever it takes to win and are using guerrilla tactics against the Republicans. During last year’s primaries, political groups aligned with the Democratic Party spent $50 million on advertising campaigns across several states to support far-right candidates. The Democrat’s strategy was to support MAGA election deniers, as they would be easier to defeat in a general election. The strategy was successful as the Washington Post reported 6 out of 13 Democratic-backed Republican candidates won their primaries and election deniers went on to lose during the midterms preventing the Republicans from getting a large majority in Congress. In a polarized political climate, each seat counts, and the result provides a blueprint for how the Democrats will tackle MAGA candidates during the 2024 presidential election..What the liberal left does not want is for Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida to win the Republican nomination. They fear him as he is much younger than Biden, articulate, poised in front of the camera, energetic and does not fear woke capitalism as he currently is going after Disney’s special tax status after their CEO spoke out against the governor’s education bill. When polled 70% of Americans and more than half of Democrats prefer someone else other than Biden. Polling in battleground states shows that Biden beats Trump but DeSantis bests Biden. Biden will be 86 years of age if he were to complete a second term and Trump's collective flaws make Biden appear like a saint. Biden’s advisors believe that independent voters are out of Trump’s reach. They cannot imagine that voters who went for Trump in 2016 but voted against him in 2020 would vote for him after January 6 riots, ongoing criminal trials, and election denials..In America’s political theatre of the absurd Trump will continue to bring on the absurdity at the expense of the Republican Party and to the benefit of the Democrats. Trump has said of DeSantis, “Ron’s not a winner because Ron, without me, wouldn’t have won.” Trump’s megalomania believes he owns the Republican party and that his persona, which is an extension of The Apprentice show, has the liberal establishment profiting from his theatrics that will allow, barring an economic calamity, a weak and unpopular Biden to win re-election. For DeSantis to have any chance against Trump he must face his nemesis and declare, "Trump you lost the election and I can defeat the Democrats. Not you..."
